


Teenagers are Difficult

by GriffinHeart



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Bruce also uses bad language, Gen, Gunshot Wounds, Helping children cope with trauma, Jason Todd's Bad Language, Medium: Fanfiction - Freeform, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, They're quite similar, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 05:44:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20559200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GriffinHeart/pseuds/GriffinHeart
Summary: Jason Todd travels back in time. He hates it.





	Teenagers are Difficult

**Author's Note:**

  * For [salazarastark (niewanyin)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/niewanyin/gifts).

Jason rode his motorcycle through Gotham, staring at all the changes. Thirty year time travel was no joke. Everything looked different, except Crime Alley. He really, really didn’t want to be here. Last week he had been thrown back in time, an accident caused by one of Roy’s new machines. Asshole didn’t tell him that he was experimenting with time travel. Jason was pretty sure that he had to wait for the machine to pull him back, but had no idea when that would be. He ran into Bruce on the second day. 

Jason was outside, smoking a cigarette, and choked as a tiny, angry Bruce stomped past him. He dropped the cigarette, and called out. 

“Shouldn’t you be in school?”

Little Bruce flipped him off, and Jason held back his snort. 

“Come on, you’re like, what, nine? No reason for a nine year old to be wandering Crime Alley by himself.” Jason let a little edge slip into his voice. Bruce was actually going to get himself killed, and Dick would never forgive him if he let B die, small or no. 

“I’m thirteen asshole.”

“Look kid, I know who you are. I know you don’t belong here.” Jason’s mind scrambled for any reason he could get Bruce back to safety, “I knew your parents.” Jason winced, tiny Bruce wasn’t going to appreciate a stranger bringing them up. “I’m a police officer, name’s Dick Grayson. Can I take you back to the manor? Kids get snatched here all the time.”

“Go away, bother someone else.”

Jason knew that someone in the universe was out to get him. First, he’s thrown into the past. Inconvenient, but he can handle it. Then, he runs into a tiny version of one of his least favorite people. A tiny, sulking, preteen Bruce. Jason couldn’t handle that. And he has to keep the little shit alive? This was one of the worst days of his life.

He quickly took that back, remembering how awful his life was. This was almost a vacation.

“Listen here you little punk--”

“Stop following me you creep!” Little Bruce ran away, further into the maze of alleys. 

Jason shoved his hand into his mouth to muffle the scream of rage. Were all teenagers like this? He didn’t remember being quite so bad.

That was a lie, he was definitely worse.

“Son of a--” Jason went running after the hellion.

Look, Jason wasn’t out of shape, but he was starting to consider that Bruce was a genetically altered super child and never told anyone. He just didn’t stop sprinting. Jason kept running, jumping over trash cans and the unfortunately located homeless person, muttering sorry to them as he passed. 

“Get back here!” He shouted, voice hoarse.

“Fuck off!” Was the response he received in reply. He could hear a sudden crash, the sound of metal hitting metal, from around the corner in front of him. Jason turned and saw Bruce lying on the ground, the trash cans he ran into lying next to him, covering him in a thin layer of old newspapers and food waste.

If Jason was a better man he would have helped Bruce up.

Jason pointed and laughed at the trash boy. He laughed for two minutes straight, watching Bruce collect himself and brush the trash off of his clothes.

Bruce’s face was bright red, twisted in a scowl. 

Jason schooled his expression, save the occasional muffled giggle, and said, “Come on, I really don’t want to spend the whole day chasing you. Can I just take you back to the manor?”

Bruce crossed his arms and faced the wall.

Jason sighed. “Look kid--”

“Hey, what do we have here?”

Jason turned, drawing his gun and moving his body in front of Bruce’s. 

The voice came from a tall beady eyed man, his brown, greying hair thinning atop his large head. He had on a large coat, poorly concealing the knife holstered at his waist and not at all concealing the pistol he had in his hands.

Behind Jason, Bruce had frozen. Jason could hear his stuttering, uneven breaths. He turned his attention back to the armed man in front of him.

“Hey man, we’re just on our way out of here. Nothing you need to worry about.”

The man displayed a crooked, toothy grin. “I think I should decide that, don’t you think?” He took a step closer.

“No,” Jason muttered, slowly moving his hand to the holster at his hip, and wrapping his hand around the grip of his gun. “Last chance,” Jason called out, “this doesn’t have to end with violence.”

“No, I think it does.” 

Jason turned and shoved Bruce behind one of the felled trash cans. He turned back to the man as the first shot rang out. The breath was forced from Jason’s chest, his sternum on fire. He hunched over, thanking God that he invested in good armor. Without hesitating, Jason stood back up, relishing the confusion on the thug’s face as he lifted his pistol and shot him in the arm. The thug’s pistol fell to the floor as he cried out. He could see Bruce flinch violently in the corner of his vision. 

Jason ran to Bruce. “Come on,” he wheezed, grabbing Bruce by the arm, “we have to run.”

Bruce dragged behind Jason, letting himself get pulled freely. He wasn’t responsive, and after five minutes of running and confirming no one was following them, Jason pulled them aside and into an empty restaurant, pulling the cooled bullet out of his armor and dropping it on the street.

Bruce was pale, his eyes wide and staring at nothing. Jason snapped his fingers in front of his face, receiving no response.

“Damnit,” Jason muttered. “Okay kid, do you know what day it is? It’s April 7th, and you’re inside a restaurant in Gotham. Alfred is probably looking for you, and might kill me if you don’t get home in time. You are easily the most annoying kid I’ve had to follow around.” Jason wasn’t very good at thinking of things to say, but he kept up a slow flow of words until Bruce blinked, and shifted slightly.

“--but then, the elephant got really mad at my--oh, hey Bruce, you with me?”

Bruce took a step back, looking around. “Where are we?”

“A restaurant. You okay now?”

Bruce swallowed, and mumbled, “Yeah. Sorry, I--” he hesitated. “I don’t like guns.” The last was said with a small whisper.

Jason sighed. “Yeah, I know.” He patted Bruce on the head, ruffling his hair.

Ignoring Bruce’s confused look, he continued, “Look, you need to get back to the manor. Can we please, please, please go back.”

Bruce nodded.

“Oh thank God. I did not want to chase you again.”

They walked further into the shopping district and hailed a cab. God knows where Jason left his motorcycle. When they got to Wayne Manor, Bruce hesitated in front of the gate.

“Come on squirt, you’re home now,” Jason said, lightly pushing at him.

“It’s so different now,” Bruce mumbled, looking at the ground, “Now that they’re gone, it’s just a bunch of empty rooms. It’s so quiet.”

Jason stood, shifting awkwardly. He paused and sighed. “I know it sucks kid. But think, you’ve got Alfred. And who knows, maybe one day this place will be crawling with people.” Crawling with a bunch of combat trained brats, Jason thought. 

Bruce frowned, and wiped at his eyes. He walked up to the front door, but paused as his hand went to knock.

“Can you stay for dinner?” Bruce asked.

Little Bruce’s puppy eyes should be illegal. “Fine, but you’re going to have to tell Alfred why you weren't at school today.”

Bruce deflated, but nodded. God, this was surreal.

A much younger Alfred opened the door, looking at Bruce’s stained clothes with wide eyes. Bruce grinned, and grabbed onto Jason’s sleeve, pulling them both into the manor. Jason smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy :)


End file.
